Essays in: Musings

This week, I became the Hatchet Lady. I have always been drawn to small institutions. There is something about a close-knit community that creates a sense of safety for me. My graduating high school class had 32 students. At the time of my graduation, enrollment at my university was just over 3,000. The first professional […]

It feels as though it’s easier than ever to identify evil — whether in people, systems, or events. Some things are objectively evil. Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people is an objectively evil act. Jeffrey Epstein was an unquestionably evil man. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party were undoubtedly evil. Evil is part of the […]

There is a pivotal scene in the film Sinners that lays bare an unfathomable crime. Early on, we meet Delta Slim—a masterful blues player and a drunk who, despite his outward joviality, appears both haunted and hunted. It quickly becomes clear what has shaped the complex inner life of this towering man, who seems to […]

There is anecdotal evidence that suggests that as we age, our friendship circles narrow. I don’t know that we need peer-reviewed research to confirm what most of us feel in our bones: the older we get, the fewer people we call friend. When you are in elementary school, everyone in your classroom is referred to […]

Two weeks ago, I sent the email no woman CEO ever wants to find herself typing. The subject line read: “On the verge of mental collapse, raising my hand to ask for help.” I am the Managing Director of a boutique media company that creates content aimed at demystifying stereotypes about African women. For the […]

I was born in 1978, part of the final generation that truly remembers what liberty felt like. We drank from garden hoses, ate candy cigarettes designed to groom us into future smokers, and survived on pudding pops and Hot Pockets. Gen X loves to list these nostalgic markers, but they’re not what truly define us. […]

I am one of the millions who watched Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend, a performance that has sparked passionate reactions from all who witnessed it. Great art, once consumed, does not leave one feeling impartial, unmoved, or unprovoked, and this show was the essence of great art. Viewers have either declared […]

“I have pimples in my scalp,” said Diane, running her hands through her brown hair for emphasis. “The acne is unreal. It’s on my chest, shoulders, everywhere!” Diane and I had met up to discuss our goals and hopes for 2025, but what was supposed to be a strategy session turned into a mutual therapy […]

Time is a funny construct that humans have created. Unlike seasons where the natural world responds to rhythm, environment, and circumstance, time is fixed, rigid and unyielding. There is a beginning and an end. And so we have the concept of a new year. New year pressure is real. If you are one of the […]

I manage a small team of female creatives who work in the SRHR and pleasure space. Every day, we each receive messages—either in our DMs, social signals, or from the government—that our lives as Black and/or queer women do not matter. Some of these messages imply threats. Others are expressly made. The building pressure of […]

The day I turned 40, I celebrated with a Prince dance party, a decadent chocolate cake and a vow to delay getting a mammogram for as long as possible. I’d heard too many tales about this rite of passage for women, and I wanted no part of it. The whole procedure sounded like a crime […]

They say Ghana is a peaceful country because while Ghanaians will always raise their voices when provoked, they will never raise their fists. I always interpreted this to mean that unlike some of our other West African counterparts who are always spoiling for a good fight and primed to see revolutionary change, Ghanaians are cowardly […]

I love living in George. It’s an old city fighting to find a new identity. What makes George such a popular place to settle and raise a family are the same reasons that the semi-nomadic Khoisan did so for thousands of years before European settlers “discovered” the area and put their permanent stamp on it. […]

Reels.  If you’re on Instagram, you’ve seen them, shared them and even possibly made your fair share of them. Some people (like me) make Reels because they are a handy tool with simple templates for quick updates and storytelling. Other people plan and make Reels with the sole intent and hope of going viral. The […]

Happy new year, dearest Readers and Lurkers! I know I haven’t been consistent with keeping up with Mind of Malaka in 2022 – and to be honest that’s not likely to change in 2023 if the circumstances that kept me away from this beloved space are replicated this year. Yet as always, if you’re still […]

It was a balmy night in Nairobi; one where the leaves rustled melodically in the gentle breeze and the stars peeked through the veil of cloud cover to wink at we mere mortals below. Our working group had convened to have a final dinner together before we all went our separate ways. Perhaps it was […]

A friend of mine has created The Happy Company (THC), a lifestyle brand that is “founded on the agenda to spread happyness“. They prefer to remain anonymous (if such a thing is possible anymore) so that people will associate with and support the agenda, rather than the person behind it. They recently asked me to […]

Mr. Tei loved to whip children. At least, that was the reputation he had earned on the primary school block when I arrived in 1986. Only ‘Brah’ Sammy came in at a close second with a love for attaching cane to tender Class 3 flesh. It was rumored that both men would arrive on school […]

The good people at Ottar Magazine invited me to write an article about desire earlier this year. This article appears in Swedish, but if you’re not up on your Nordic languages, I’ve got the English version for you here. @bougiefeminist, this post is just for you! Lust is a powerful psychological force as old as […]

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is […]